Gifted Education Resource Institute

Background

The roots of gifted education at Purdue University began in the mid-1950s, when Harriet O'Shea, a Purdue psychology professor (1931–1964), developed and taught Psychology of the Intellectually Gifted Child (PSY 544), in which students studied aspects of intellectually gifted children and explored ways to meet their needs.

About the same time, on the Madison campus of University of Wisconsin, a graduate student named John Feldhusen was working on a mathematical study of learning and retention, which included children of high intelligence. Feldhusen's interest in giftedness increased because of the outstanding results he obtained from the gifted students in his study. Upon completion of his dissertation, Purdue University hired Feldhusen as a professor in psychology and education, where he later taught O'Shea's PSY 544 course after she retired.

In 1974, having attended an Indiana Department of Education meeting on gifted education, Purdue Vice President Don Brown, a longtime supporter of gifted education, decided that he wanted to move the university more prominently into the emerging field of gifted education. He asked Feldhusen to develop a plan for a gifted education center at Purdue, and the result was GERI.

Enrichment Programs

Enrichment programs offered by GERI meet the interests and passions of students with intellectual, creative, and artistic gifts and talents. Students take courses that provide challenging, hands-on learning opportunities that emphasize creativity, critical thinking, independent learning, diversity, and achievement. The purpose of these programs is to supplement the general school curriculum with enriched and advanced university-based offerings. Classes, such as advanced mathematics, engineering, science, technology, and visual and performing arts, provide students with engaging [Page 384]and interactive opportunities to learn with others of like interests and abilities. The Purdue three-stage model serves as the basis for the curriculum and instruction in the enrichment programs.

GERI currently offers three programs for youth:

• 1.
  Super Saturday runs 6 weeks in the spring and fall and is offered to students age 4 through Grade 8.
• 2.
  Super Summer offers week-long morning and afternoon classes to students age 4 though Grade 4.
• 3.
  Comet, Star, and Pulsar are residential summer programs for students in Grades 5 through 12.

Graduate Programs

The Gifted Education Graduate Program is hous ed in the Department of Educational Studies and offers three accredited graduate programs: (1) a licensure program, (2) a master's degree, and (3) a research-intensive doctoral degree.

The licensure program provides teachers with the professional training (online or on-campus) needed to add Gifted and Talented Education to their teaching license. Students develop an understanding of the cognitive, affective, and social/emotional characteristics of gifted and talented learners in different talent domains. Students learn how to differentiate curriculum and instruction, develop gifted and talented programs, enhance thinking skills, and facilitate the social and affective development of high-ability students. Students who successfully complete the program demonstrate proficiency on national and state professional standards for gifted education.

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